Effect of Many-Particle Interactions on the Transport Properties of Low-Energy Ions in Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract

Using the method of molecular dynamics, the significance of many-particle interactions in the dynamics of low-energy ions in carbon nanotubes is studied, and the necessity of taking into account such interactions in the corresponding molecular dynamics calculations is shown. The effect of elastic perturbations of the carbon nanotube wall on the motion of ions inside the nanotube channel has been studied. It was found that the ion energy losses decrease by a factor of 1.5–3 when the influence of the perturbation of the carbon nanotube wall on the motion of ions is taken into account when the ion velocity approaches the perturbation propagation velocity. It has also been shown that the effect of the interaction between moving ions and perturbations of the carbon nanotube wall becomes more monotonic with a decrease in the magnitude of thermal fluctuations of the nanotube wall, in terms of energy losses by ions. Within the framework of the model under consideration, the stopping power of the electron gas bound to the atoms that form the walls of a carbon nanotube is small compared to the energy losses of ions due to elastic collisions with nanotube atoms.